Since the pandemic, inflation, higher interest rates and slower growth have fuelled anti-incumbent sentiment across advanced and developing democracies alike. For over two decades, Anwar Ibrahim and the Reformasi movement argued that Malaysia’s deeper problems were institutional rather than merely economic. A movement that built its legitimacy on institutional integrity cannot easily ask voters to separate political necessity from political principle. Recent elections suggest lower turnout among PH’s traditional supporters has become an important factor in the coalition’s disappointing performances. Meanwhile, PH’s other asset, the credibility of Reformasi, is eroding with every compromise that blurs the line between principle and expediency.